1,9 millones de personas abandonaron Venezuela desde 2015, según la ONU. Pro-independence protesters in Catalonia block roads, railway line

1,9 millones de personas abandonaron Venezuela desde 2015, según la ONU

AFP / CRIS BOURONCLE Un grupo de venezolanos hacen cola en un puesto fronterizo de Tumbes, en el noroeste de Perú, fronterizo con Ecuador, el 23 de agosto de 2018.

Cerca de 1,9 millones de personas se fueron de Venezuela desde 2015, huyendo de la crisis económica y política que atraviesa el país, informó el lunes la ONU.
"Con más de 2,6 millones de personas en el exterior del país actualmente, es crucial una perspectiva apolítica y humanitaria para ayudar a los países que les reciben en un número que va en aumento", declaró el Alto Comisionado de la ONU para los Refugiados, Filippo Grandi, durante la apertura de la reunión anual del comité ejecutivo de la Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados (Acnur) que se celebra esta semana en Ginebra.

"Unas 5.000 personas abandonan Venezuela cada día actualmente, es el mayor movimiento de población en la historia reciente de América Latina", agregó.
Interrogado por el flujo masivo cotidiano, un portavoz de ACNUR, William Spindler, explicó a la AFP que "se observa esta tendencia desde principios de este año", insistiendo en que "el gran éxodo empezó este año".
"Según los datos oficiales gubernamentales, estimamos que 1,9 millones de venezolanos dejaron su país desde 2015 para dirigirse principalmente hacia otros países de América del Sur como Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú", precisó el portavoz.
Acnur y la Organización Internacional para las Migraciones anunciaron el 19 de septiembre el nombramiento del ex vicepresidente de Guatemala Eduardo Stein como representante especial para la crisis migratoria venezolana.
La población venezolana está asfixiada en una crisis económica caracterizada por la hiperinflación, la pobreza, la falta de servicios públicos y la escasez de productos de primera necesidad, especialmente de medicamentos y alimentos. Esto ha provocado un éxodo masivo de cientos de miles de venezolanos.
"Felicito a los Estados que han mantenido sus fronteras abiertas y que ofrecen asilo u otras formas de estancia legal" a los venezolanos, dijo Grandi.
"Todavía queda mucho por hacer para garantizar la coherencia regional de la respuesta aportada en materia de protección" de los individuos, advirtió sin embargo

Pro-independence protesters in Catalonia block roads, railway line

AFP / Josep LAGO Blunderbuss guns were fired in Sant Julia de Ramis, near Girona, during the ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the banned referendum

Pro-independence protesters obstructed major roads and a high-speed railway line in Spain's Catalonia region on Monday, one year after a banned referendum on secession marred by police violence.
"Everything began on October 1 and everything goes back to October 1," the region's separatist president Quim Torra said in a ceremony in Sant Julia de Ramis in northern Catalonia on a stage next to a large black and white banner that read "No forgetting, no forgiving."

Some 10 kilometres (six miles) away in Girona, hundreds of activists, many covering their faces with scarves, occupied high-speed railway tracks for around three hours, blocking services linking Figueres, Girona and Barcelona, Spain's state-owned rail operator Renfe said.

AFP / Josep LAGO Torra (L) praised the actions of the activists, saying they were "doing well in putting on the pressure"

Central streets in Barcelona and Lleida were blocked, as was the AP-7 motorway, south of Barcelona, and A2 linking Barcelona to Madrid, images on Catalan TV showed.
Activists also got into Catalonia's regional government building in Girona and took away the facade's Spanish flag, replacing it with a red, yellow and blue separatist flag.

In his speech, Torra praised their actions, saying they were "doing well in putting on the pressure."
- 'Damaged Spain's reputation' -
A year after the contested October 1, 2017 referendum, disagreements over separatism have nevertheless deepened in the wealthy northeastern region of Spain, which is home to some 7.5 million people and has its own distinct language.

AFP / PAU BARRENA Pro-independence proteststers blocked streets in Barcelona

Far from uniting the community, it has polarised opinion, leaving deep divisions over the region's fate.
The independence movement itself is divided and rudderless, with the separatist parties that have an absolute majority in the regional parliament split on what strategy to pursue to break from Spain -- direct confrontation or moderation.

The protests were called online by a grassroots group calling itself the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs), founded to help stage last year's banned referendum and now demanding a clean break with the Spanish state.
"A year ago we voted for independence... Let's act," the CDRs tweeted.
Already on Saturday, Barcelona was the scene of unrest, with 24 people injured and six detained when separatists clashed with police.

AFP/File / Pau Barrena Twenty-four people were injured during a rally -- and a counter demonstration -- in Barcelona by police paying tribute to colleagues deployed to prevent the 2017 referendum

They were taking part in a demonstration called to counter a rally by police paying tribute to colleagues deployed to prevent the 2017 Catalan independence referendum.
The Catalan government, then led by Carles Puigdemont, pushed ahead with the vote on secession despite it having been deemed illegal by the Spanish courts.

The vote was marred by a violent police crackdown on polling stations that made headlines around the world.
Even if it was illegal and therefore non-binding, 2.3 million people cast their ballots out of 5.5 million eligible voters, 90 percent of whom voted to break from Spain. Opponents of independence largely boycotted the vote.
In a radio interview, the spokeswoman for the Socialist government in Madrid, Isabel Celaa, said the referendum had been "illegal" and had no "legal consequence."

AFP/File / JORGE GUERRERO The Catalan government pushed ahead with the referendum in 2017 despite it having been deemed illegal by the Spanish courts

But she said the sometimes violent police intervention to impede the vote -- as ordered by Spain's then conservative government -- was a mistake.
She said the footage of police charging at voters -- even if some of it was later found to be false -- "seriously damaged Spain's reputation" abroad.

After the Catalan government declared unilateral independence on October 27, Madrid swiftly sacked the Catalan government, prompting several key figures to flee abroad, including Puigdemont. Others were jailed.
In total, 13 separatist leaders have been charged with rebellion, nine of whom are in preventative custody in Spain awaiting trial, while four others are in self-exile in Belgium, Scotland and Switzerland.
In a video broadcast on social media, Puigdemont called on pro-independence Catalans to "not divert from the only path possible to be able to live in a full democracy -- achieving the republic and its international recognition."

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